The Tale of Jiraiya the Second
by RoundLake
Summary: An ordinary young boy from Konohagakure wants to be like Jiraiya of the Sannin and tries to imitate him. The only tools he has to compete with geniuses, clan shinobis and bloodline holders are his sharp mind and strong willpower. This is the tale of a kind hearted shinobi, the story of his journey from a genin to a legend.
1. The Legendary Toad Sannin

**Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction based on the Naruto world, created by Masashi Kishimoto. Except few of my own created characters like Hiro Utagawa all of the characters belong to Kishimoto. I am not profiting financially from the creation and publication of this story.**

 **Readers are suggested to read the author's note at the end of the chapter.**

 **Chapter 1: The Legendary Toad Sannin!**

In the Village Hidden in the Leaves, there once lived a little boy called Hiro.

Dreams are important for every human being, and few dreams are as exciting and huge as those of little children. Hiro himself had his own dream, and it was as large as the toad boss Gamabunta!

Still, in the end Hiro was actually a very ordinary boy. He lived with his parents in a nice house. His father's name was Kunisada Utagawa and he was the best painter in the land of fire. Hiro's mother was a shinobi, a jonin named Konomi Mimura. Their family was pretty well-off, so if you ignore the indispensable dangers coming with living inside a ninja village, Hiro Utagawa was member of a happy family.

Konomi was one of the jonins responsible for Konoha shinobi archives, and she loved her work. Few people in the village knew as much about legendary ninjas as her. She knew the family tree of Hashirama Senju, name of the taijutsu styles created by Madara Uchiha. She could tell you the full story of Sasuke Sarutobi and how he went as high as 100 meters in one jump.

Before going to sleep, Hiro asked her, "Mama, tell me a story." So she told him the tales of the all-knowing professor, white fang, legendary sannins and yellow flash. Hiro loved them. Just like every other kids he was extremely curious and asked questions after question, "Mama, how can monkey king Enma turn into a staff?", "Mama, do you think the white fang knew the language of dogs?" "Mama, who was the best sannin?"

Konomi always tried to answer, "Hmm, that's a good question. Everyone has their own opinion, and all of the sannins were super powerful. But I think the best of them is Jiraiya."

"The toad sage? Why?"

So Konomi continued her story, and Hiro swallowed it like candy. Jiraiya was the dead last of his class, the least talented shinobi of them all. He was part of the team consisting of a genius like Orochimaru and princess Tsunade Senju. At first Jiraiya couldn't even dream to compete with the likes of them. But he never gave up. He tried his hardest and started to catch up. Jiraiya somehow managed to sign a contract with the toads, learned fuinjutsu, and turned into a powerhouse. He took a group of genins as student and one of them became the yellow flash. Eventually the princess Tsunade left Konoha out of depression. The genius Orochimaru turned into a traitor. But Jiraiya the dead last never abandoned his home. Till this day he protects Konoha from outside.

Hiro had stars in his eyes, "Wah! Jiraiya is so cool! Mama, do you think I will be a super ultra shinobi like him oneday?"

"For sure!", Konomi shouted, "I believe you can become a great shinobi just like Jiraiya."

Hiro suddenly jumped out of his bed and took a pose, "Huh! Beware evil shinobis and enemies of Konoha! You are nothing before me. Because I am hiro, the legendary sannin!"

His mother just laughed at his antics. At this age every kid wants to become a legendary ninja. How many can actually accomplish this?

Suddenly she realized the number is a lot less then what she first assumed.

* * *

Life goes on. The village keep losing members everyday, but new life is also born. This world is still a bleak place. A shinobi cuts his enemie's throat and hopes someday someone will change everything. A hero will emerge.

Who knows where that hero is. Maybe in a forest training his skills. Maybe on a roof just watching clouds. Maybe he is sitting on a bench at the side of a park, looking at the other children with sad lonely eyes because no one will let him play. Or maybe that hero is actually among those children, playing and laughing with everyone else.

And one day, a group of possible heroes (or villains, who knows) are admitted in the Konoha Ninja Academy.

Future shinobi or not, kids are kids. They don't listen to instructions properly, give no attention in class, read manga instead of memorizing the shinobi rules. All the teachers get mad now and then, but they still try to treat everyone as equally as possible.

Hiro is also in that group. He likes to think that he is as important as everyone else, but even he knows that's not completely true. This class consists of a huge number of clan heirs, and all the teachers know clan children usually show more potential than regular ones.  
Still, Hiro is happy. It's not so bad. After all, he is not someone like that kid Naruto with whisker marks. Not even teachers like him. That boy is kind of loud, and not really sharp. Whenever he does something wrong everyone starts to laugh at him. He even gets really bad marks at tests.

Hiro is also fairly calm. Konomi's stories have turned him into a good listener and rare speaker. He is one of few students who stay attentive during the class lectures. And Hiro even made some friends.

Although there is one thing that separates Hiro from everyone else, which is not anything of great significance like prodigious intellect or a bloodline, in fact for a shinobi this trait can turn into a hindrance. Hiro is a very kind person. Maybe too kind to be a proper shinobi. Konomi understand this, but she doesn't have the heart to kill his child's innocence.

Sometimes he feels sad for Naruto. If he could he would try to help him. But he fears associating with Naruto might ostracize himself from everyone else. He tries not to laugh at him much, but it gets difficult to not do something everyone else is doing.

* * *

Hiro is a smart kid. He likes to read and Iruka said he even pays attention in the class. So Konomi knew something fishy was going on after looking at his latest test score, "Okay, what is this? You scored the least in class? I thought you were one of the top scorers in the last written exam. How can your marks possibly come here from there!"

"It's obvious isn't it?" Hiro said in a very serious voice, "I need to become the dead last."

"What kind of reason is that? Have you hit you head somewhere recently?"

"Of course not. But as you know, my dream is to become just like Jiraiya. How can I accomplish my dream if I am not the dead last just like him?"

Konomi smacked the back of his head, "You idiot, dead last is just a position, it doesn't make you unique. Idolizing someone means to achieve that person's good traits. If you want to make Jiraiya your idol then I have nothing against it, but that doesn't mean you have to imitate him like a monkey."

So Hiro promised to try his best from now on. Still, he was happy. Because next day, everyone ignored him. But for once, no one made fun of Naruto for getting lowest marks in class.

* * *

A detailed narration of Hiro's life before the graduation exam can be given, but that would probably turn into a boring humorless description of everyday activities. He was an attentive student and probably knew more about the ninja world than most of his peers. He trained regularly and had a good grasp of the three basic ninjutsus. Other than theoretical subjects he was average in everything else.

So Hiro Utagawa graduated from the Konohagakure Ninja Academy at the age of 12. The night before team assignment, he listed his next plans on a piece of paper:

 **The steps to Jiraiya:**

 _1\. Become part of a team._  
 _2\. Have a successful career._  
 _3\. Start writing a popular novel series._  
 _4\. Train a future hokage._  
 _5\. Become a sage (what does it mean actually?)._  
 _6\. Get strong enough to be considered for the position of hokage._  
 _7\. Become legendary!_

 **Known Taijutsu Skills:**

 _Jiraiya is supposedly a tall and strong person. Nothing much is known about his taijutsu styles, but I think it has something to do with toads._  
 _So only thing I can do is to become proficient in taijutsu by myself._

 **Known Genjutsu Skills:**

 _Nothing much._  
 _Only learn the basics then._

 **Known Ninjutsu Skills:**

 _1\. Summoning Jutsu (Toads) (Source: Common Knowledge)_  
 _2\. Swamp of the Underworld (Source: Mother)_  
 _3\. Flame Bullet (Source: Mother)_

 _Other possible jutsu:_  
 _1\. Shadow Clone, Shadow Shuriken (Source: According to mother they were techniques of 3_ _rd_ _Hokage, his sensei)._  
 _2\. Rasengan (Source: According to Iruaka Sensei, technique belonged to the yellow flash, his student)._

 _Earth/fire affinity._  
 _Probably a ninjutsu specialist. So I have to become one too._

 **Known Fuinjutsu Skills:**

 _Known master. I have zero knowledge. Have to start right away._

This looks like a good way to start. So Hiro folded the paper, put it in his pocket, and went to sleep.

The story we are going to tell starts now. Story of a young shinobi whose dream was to be Jiraiya the second.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** The name Hiro was taken from _Hiro Nakamura,_ a character from the TV show _Heroes. Utagawa_ has an interesting source. In Naruto, the name of the three sannins and their speciality was actually taken from a popular Japanese folk-tale called _The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya_. Utagawa Kunisada was one of the wood-block illustrators of it's first novel version. He was considered the best ukiyo-e artist of his time. Hiro's father was named after him. As we are not following Japanese naming convention in this story, here he is called Kunisada Utagawa.

In Naruto there is no reference of Sasuke Sarutobi (father of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the 3rd Hokage. Sasuke Uchiha was named after him) being able to perform a 100 meter jump. The name Sasuke Sarutobi was taken from Kodan stories. In those stories Sasuke was a ninja who was known for his monkey-like agility and quickness. He was raised by monkeys. We can say Tarzan is the English version of Sasuke Sarutobi.


	2. The (un)Remarkable Team Four

**Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction based on the Naruto world, created by Masashi Kishimoto. Except few of my own created characters like Hiro Utagawa all of the characters belong to Kishimoto. I am not profiting financially from the creation and publication of this story.**

 **Readers are suggested to read the author's note at the end of the chapter.**

 **Chapter 2: The (un)Remarkable Team Four**

After waking up, Hiro realized he forgot to put one unimaginably crucial point inside the list. So he brought out the paper and wrote one single line:

 _8\. Find an unerasable dye to color hair white._

Seriously, how can you be like Jiraiya if you don't have the signature white hair? Besides, his ninja registration id already had a white haired picture of himself. He haven't found an unerasable dye yet, so he had to apply a Transformation jutsu.

In fact, Hiro had decided to put on a Transformation for the whole day until he finds that unerasable white dye. It had a few added advantages.

For every shinobi few skills and qualities are extremely important, among them are the ability to regulate chakra in the most optimized way possible. In other words, a good chakra control.

Chakra control is a mental ability. Of course, according to the second law of chakra regulation by Kato Hyuga, it has an inverse relationship with physical chakra capacity. More chakra you have, harder it is to control. But there is a catch, after a specific level is passed the amount of chakra in your body doesn't actually have much effect on the ability to control it. Jonins for example has far more chakra than a genin, still they find it easier to cast a genjutsu.

There have been many researches on which traits actually effect chakra regulation performance, lots of theories has been given, none completely proven yet. Experiments have shown that calm and reserved people usually have better control. That's why clans whose techniques need a certain amount of refinement try to imprint certain traits over its members from childhood. Hyugas become stoic, Naras lazy, Aburames anti-social.

Iruka sensei only mentioned this briefly in class once, most people probably didn't even hear it. But Hiro always paid attention. That's why he started to become quiet.

Continuously using chakra also helps with control and even increases chakra capacity. A smart idea is to always keep performing a low level technique like tranformation jutsu, 0-grade genjutsu or elementary nature transformation. But few people do so as it requires extreme patience and focus. Among those who try these are people with below average chakra capacity, trying to become a medic-nin or specialize in genjutsu. According to rumors, princess Tsunade still follows this practice called 'Nintai Tsukau'. To use patience.

Hiro has already decided to focus on ninjutsu and fuinjutsu like Jiraiya, so he doesn't actually need to practice Nintai Tsukau. But he has to do it anyway to keep up the white hair.

So he made a hand sign, " _Transformation Jutsu: Jiraiya's Hair_." His hair turned white, and then he went to take breakfast.

Konomi raised an eyebrow seeing him, "Hiro, don't you think you are taking this too far? I get that you want to become like Jiraiya, but you don't actually need to change your appearance."

"I am not imitating Jiraiya Mama."

"Then what are you doing?"

"I am a devoted practitioner of Nintai Tsukau."

Konomi smacked her forehead in frustration. But Hiro's father was intrigued, "Aha, I see you have given your hair a new look."

Hiro sat down and took a bowl in hand, "Yes."

"That's very good.", said Kunisada Utagawa, "An artist must keep an open mind. If you want to try something new, you should do it. Don't worry about what other people might think. Remember Hiro, freedom can't be attained unless it is practiced."

Hiro liked his father. He was a creative person with very strong moral values. Artists like him are always busy with themselves and their work, still he always tried to find some time for his little boy to teach him how to draw. Where Hiro's mother gave him knowledge, his father gave wisdom.

If this world was ruled by art instead of strength, Kunisada Utagawa would be the kind of person to become Hokage.

Soon Hiro finished his meal and left for the academy. It wasn't a long walk from their house. Still, there were lots to see. Shinobi as well as civilians laughing together. Group of kids running around the village. People going to work. And on top of everything there were the stone faced hokages, with their no nonsense looks, as if trying to say, "We are watching you, don't try anything funny." Hiro likes to think they are saying, "Don't worry Hiro, we are watching over you."

It could be argued whether they were watching over Naruto though, because Hiro was welcomed with the scene of Naruto getting beaten up by a bunch of girls just as he entered the classroom. What a poor guy. "They shouldn't beat Naruto just because he came here even after failing to graduate."

The boy closest to the door heard Hiro, "Heh, Naruto graduated alright. Now don't ask me how. This girls are punishing him for stealing Sasuke's first kiss."

Hiro had his eyes bugged out, "Sorry, but I don't think I heard you right. You said Naruto stole Sasuke's first kiss."

The boy started laughing to himself, "No, you correctly understood me. Naruto accidently kissed Sasuke's lips. It was a riot!" Hiro couldn't find the courage to ask anything else and quickly took the first empty sit.

Iruka came in after a while and started giving his speech, "My precious students. As of today you all have become full-fledged ninjas. However, you are still a genin. The tough part is about to come. From here on, you will be in a three man squad and carry out your missions under you jonin teacher."

Some of the students looked confused. Hiro didn't know what was so surprising. It has always been a three man squad. In fact, the three shinobi squad rule was created by Tobirama Senju himself. Well, this information wasn't actually part of their curriculam, they were included in the extra reading materials. Still, everyone should have heard of hokage and the village elders, the three Sannins and Ino-Shika-Cho. Don't people pay attention in class?

Three is the smallest possible number of people that can be used to build a well-rounded shinobi team. Tobirama called it 'Two Okonomiyaki Team Rule' that teams shouldn't be larger than what two okonomiyaki can feed. Considering the jonin sensei the number was decided to be four, but actual combat squads consists of 3 ninja. The optimal triangle, it is called. For example, one common strategy is to have a taijutsu specialist, one ninjutsu specialist and one genjustu specialist. It can be two active fighters along with a fast medic-nin. There are exceptions though. For example, barrier teams may consist of four to five members.

Iruka continued, "Groups have been determined so that the strength of the groups will be balanced. Now I am going to announce the teams. Now for the assignments!"

Iruka sensei announced first two teams. Apparently there is already a team three, so no squad was given that number. That's strange, Hiro thought. Why is there a team three if there isn't a team one or two? Highly suspicious.

Iruka said, "Okay then, group four. Saito Takayasu, Hiro Utagawa and Asami Abe."

Hiro tried to find them in class. He knows Saito a little, but not enough. Asami belongs to the group who were beating up Naruto a while ago. There goes his dream of being paired with geniuses like Orochimaru and Tsunade.

Team five and six were announced. Hiro's neighbor Sasaki went to team six, along with two girls. Both of Sasaki's parents were civilians. Iruka said strength of the groups were going to be balanced. Sasaki's team, in fact none of the teams yet, seemed very impressive but he looked happy to be paired with two girls.

Iruka said, "Next is group 7. Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno." At this Naruto leapt for joy and Sakura looked utterly depressed. "And Sasuke Uchiha."

At this Sakura leapt for joy and Naruto looked utterly depressed.

Hiro was a little sad too. Truth is, he wouldn't mind being in the same team with Naruto or Sasuke. Sasuke because he was the genius of their class and a possible replacement of Orochimaru. That he wished to be in Naruto's team surprised even himself. All his childhood wishes to one day speak some kind words to the lonely boy probably never went away.

"Next is group 8. Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame." Why these three? Something is not right.

Team nine was also unavailable. "Group 10. Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi." The perfect Ino-Shika-Cho.

And suddenly Hiro understood.

Group 7 consists of Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto. Sasuke is the last loyal member of the Uchiha clan. Sakura didn't read as much as Hiro, but gave her time to the textbooks and always got good marks in written exams. She had grace and beauty. Naruto is nothing special, but he has creativity and for some weird reason a strange friendship with the hokage himself.

Group 9 and 10 had all the other major clan members. Hinata, Shino, Choji, Shikamaru and Ino all were clan heirs, the next leaders of the village. Kiba isn't a heir himself but his mother is the clan head. In a way these 9 are the elites, the best in the class. Ones with the most potential.

Just then Naruto stood up and asked why he was put with Sasuke. Iruka said it was because they were the first and the last of the class, it was done to balance out the team. But everyone knows Naruto isn't as talentless as his marks suggested.

Very few students in every year are considered above average or important enough to have a second look at. So the fair strategy would be for every team to have one exceptional student along with two others. This way all of the groups have a fighting chance.

Hiro's was an extraordinary class. It has some very talented students. Clan heirs to geniuses. So for them it would be even easier to balance the teams. Everyone would have a chance. But it wasn't done.

Konomi always tells Hiro one thing, "The strength of a village is not determined by the quantity of shinobi it has, but by the quality of the shinobi." Supposedly it was part of fourth hokage's inauguration speech.

Iruka has finished announcing all the teams. Team three, nine, eleven, twelve and thirteen were left out. Why? Why only these teams, what happened to others? Hiro mentally considered the possibilities:

 _1\. They died._  
 _2\. They became chunin/jonin._  
 _3\. There weren't any other teams._  
 _4\. They were expelled._

Teams do not die out in one year, nor do they all become chunins. Of course there were other teams, no one assigns team numbers randomly. Getting expelled from the force is a big news, even for a genin. None of the above is true.

So there is only one other answer. Except 15 students from 5 teams, others didn't even become genin! There must be something else. A second test. Another filtering. Some kind of evaluation.

Question two. Why are three teams significantly better than the others? It's simple once you consider the members of the team, mostly for group 8 and 10. Clan heirs were put in the same team to form bonds among themselves. In fact, all these 9 members from 3 elite groups are expected to form a bond among themselves. This probably doesn't happen every year. But this year is different. These three teams will probably pass even if there is a second exam.

So what does it say for the other teams? No one probably put much thought into their formation. Groups of average and below average students? What happens to them? What is expected of them?

Hiro Utagawa had a sharp and curious mind. Maybe he was born with it, possibly not. Maybe he was influenced by his mother who is a jonin or his father who is a grandmaster artist. Hiro may not be an overly talented shinobi, but he is intelligent. It didn't take much time for Hiro to realize what was actually expected.

His team was expected to fail!

* * *

 **Author's Note:** As readers probably have realized, these story will have an analytical nature. There may be facts never existing in the original series (or a fact existing in the original series but missed by me, which is very possible).

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese food. **'** Two Okonomiyaki Team Rule' was based on 'Two Pizza Team Rule'. Something like that really does exist. If anybody is interested they can look it up.

The name Saito Takayasu was inspired by another famous person from Japan. I am not going to say who he was. However, curiosity always leaves an answer.

" _If this world was ruled by art instead of strength, Kunisada Utagawa would be the kind of person to become Hokage._ " This has a symbolic meaning.


	3. Hideki Sarutobi

**Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction based on the Naruto world, created by Masashi Kishimoto. Except few of my own created characters like Hiro Utagawa all of the characters belong to Kishimoto. I am not profiting financially from the creation and publication of this story.**

 **Readers are suggested to read the author's note at the end of the chapter.**

 **Chapter 3: Hideki Sarutobi**

Group 4 was sitting under a maple tree. None of them looked overly comfortable. The jonin before them did nothing to soften the situation. He had a thoughful look on his face, as if contemplating whether to take them for free food or kill them painfully.

"Now then!" He finally decided, "You guys are supposed to be team four, right? I am the jonin assigned to your team. I think we should get to know each other a little before we start anything serious. So, introduce yourselves."

"I think we should start with you, sensei." Asami said, "You are the most senior here."

Their jonin sensei agreed, "Good point, little girl. I will start with myself. My name is Hideki Sarutobi. As you all can see, I am a jonin. Other than that, I am just your random Konoha citizen."

The jonin was very vague. Hiro expected that much. He came here knowing he is taking a team that is expected to fail. So why would he give personal information and try to get close?

Asami said, "Okay, I will go next. My name is Asami Abe, I am 12 years old. I have orange hairs and blue eyes. My dad owns a restaurant. My mom is a housewife. I have one brother and one sister. My sister's name is Sasami and my brother's name is Akito. Our house is near the Yamanaka clan ground. I like movies. Takeru-kun is my favorite actor, I really like him! I am friends with Fuki. I don't know why she hangs out with that mean girl Ami, whom I hate. I also hate Ino, Sakura, Kasumi and Maiko. Well, not as much as Ami. I like Sasuke-kun though. I know you guys think it's nothing but a crush, but I really like him. I am a very shy person, I also don't like people who babble too much. I wan't to become a great ninja like princess Tsunade one day."

She stopped. Everyone waited a few more moments to see if she was gonna say anything else. Surprisingly she had nothing left, at least for then. Hiro and Saito exchanged glances, even Hideki sensei was caught off guard.

"That truly was very...informative?" said Hideki, "Don't you think so boys?"

Saito agreed silently. Hiro said, "Very."

Asami looked satisfied. This time Saito started his introduction, "I am Saito. My dad is a medic-nin. I want to follow his footsteps and become a member of Konoha's Elite Medic Squad."

"Good for you." Hideki stated, "Now, only one remains. Finish it up."

"My name is Hiro Utagawa." he said, "I like to read, and paint. I want to become a shinobi like Jiraiya sama of the Sannin."

Hideki sensei nodded, "You all have large dreams I see, that's good that's good. Now, there is something you should know. All three of you look like good kids, so I am going to be honest with you."

Saito and Asami looked eager. Hiro had a bad feeling about what Hideki was going to say.

Hideki said, "There is a special second test which you have to pass to become genins."

Hiro let go of the breath he was holding. After all they weren't going to be disqualified outright, without any kind of assessment. His teammates didn't look very pleased however, and instantly freaked out. "What!" Saito screamed, "What are you talking about sensei? We weren't told of any second test at all. I have worked very hard to come to this position. Now you are saying there is a chance we won't even pass?"

Hideki shrugged, "Hey, I don't make the rules kid. Besides, even if you fail the second test doesn't mean your career is over. You can take the special genin test at least three times, and next time you don't even have to take the academy exam. You already passed it."

Members of group 4 just sat in silence for a while, trying to comprehend the situation. Hiro knew something like this was going to happen. Still, he had a tiny little hope this prediction would come to be nothing but an over-thought paranoia.

Finally, he broke the silence, "What do we have to do?"

Hideki smiled. It was one of those smile which had multiple meanings. It might have been encouraging, or pitying, "I will make it very simple for you guys. You are in luck that I don't find you three too much annoying. So unlike other jonins, you will have an advantage. You guys can start just now, no problem. This test will go on till tomorrow morning. And what you three have to do is to create a jutsu."

* * *

One good thing to come out of this whole disaster is the discovery of an important fact about Saito Takayasu, made by his unlikely future teammate Hiro. The fact that he has the habit of biting his fingernails out of nervousness.

Asami had a tragic look on her face, as if every hope was gone from the world. It was probably very farfetched, the world doesn't actually depend on the life of three genins. But no one could deny their hope of passing this test was almost non-existing.

"I am done, I am definitely done." Saito kept rambling on, "No way I will pass. No way. Just no way."

"This is unfair!" Asami suddenly erupted, "How can he expect three kids to create a jutsu in one day? This is just not possible! I mean, does anyone of us even know how a jutsu is created?"

"Theoretically, yes."

"Huh?"

"I know the basic theory behind jutsu creation." Hiro said.

Asami's eyes lit up, "So you can create a jutsu, right?"

"Not actually." Hiro shook his head, "I know only the very basic, the abstract idea. Let me explain. Fundamentally, every jutsu is nothing but chakra transformation. It may be anything from shape to nature, phase to meaning. But in the end, whatever ninjutsu you are performing is a sequence of precisely performed chakra transformations. Now, a proper transformation needs just the exact amount of chakra in density and amount, transferred to the right chakra points in our body. That's why we use hand signs.

Hand signs transport chakra through the body in precise amount, they also somewhat help with the transformation. Long time ago it was believed every ninjutsu can be performed using nothing by making lots of hand-signs. It was soon found incorrect. Of course, there are jutsus which requires only handsigns and no direct chakra transformation, but they are very weak and simple."

"So can't we randomly make some-hand signs and wait for even a weak jutsu to happen?" Asami asked.

"Not actually, no." Hiro continued, "First, you need to know what you are trying to do, otherwise you will only mold chakra inside the body, never using it. Besides, trying to make a jutsu like this is dangerous. If you don't know how to transform chakra for a jutsu, you shouldn't just experiment. It may badly harm your body. For example, if you don't exactly know how to exactly create fire natured chakra and move it through your throat, you shouldn't ever use a fire jutsu. It will burn your insides."

"Yeah, I knew that." Saito joined the conversation, "The medic-nins always have to deal with ninjutsu accidents. That's why inexperienced ninjas are always suggested to learn jutsu from a teacher, never from a description or a scroll."

"But we have to do something, right guys?" Asami insisted in a desperate voice, "Hiro, you seem to really know about all this stuff. Can't you figure anything out? Some shortcut, something we can do?"

Hiro sat down and started to pinch his lower lip, "Now that you mention is, a new jutsu doesn't always have to be a completely new sequence of chakra transformations. It can be nothing but an improvement, or a special purpose modification."

"Ah, can you elaborate?"

"Sure." Hiro took a few seconds to think up an example, "Okay, it might be a little embarrassing, but you guys have seen Naruto's Sexy Jutsu, right? The one he used to knock out Iruka sensei?"

"Wait!" Asami pointed an accusing finger at him, "Are you suggesting we create some kind perverted jutsu."

She was clearly in anger, but Hiro was unaffected, "Not at all, I am just giving an example you are familiar with. Now, Naruto's Sexy Jutsu is nothing but a transformation. But it can be considered a new technique. It has a completely different purpose than the transformation, it's a distraction technique. Naruto may not be very intelligent, but I really admire his mastery over the transformation. He created a completely new body, perfected the physical details and even changed the voice. So we can do something like this, take a jutsu we already know and modify it."

The sun has almost set. Birds were flying back home. Children were leaving the playground. Soon, the members of group 4 would be the only people left in the park.

"I know only the three basic jutsus taught at the academy." Saito stated, "Do you know anything else."

Hiro shook his head. Asami said, "No, that's it. So that means we have only those three to work with, right?"

The machines in Hiro's mind was spinning in high gear.

Body replacement is a complex jutsu, even jonins use it frequently. It is a simpler version of Body-flicker, a technique that allows the user high-speed movement. Body replacement uses a reference object to control body movement and as a mean of misdirection. High speed movement is dangerous enough to experiment with, not to mention the immense amount of chakra the replacement eats.

Even though it looks simple, the transformation is even more difficult to perform. It utilizes both property transformation to change color and shape transformation to create a physical outer layer. The transformation has many variations. Some can only be used to change an objects look, some can be used to actually change it physically. Hiruzen Sarutobi defined 5 levels of transformation jutsu. Appearance transformation, Equal size physical transformation, Expanded physical transformation, Contracted Physical transformation and True-body transformation. So it will be difficult to mess with.

That leaves only one jutsu. The simplest of the three, the most useless one. A simple color transformation and projection. The technique Naruto could never perform.

"We have to work on the Clone jutsu. It's the best choice." Said Hiro.

His teammates accepted his suggestion without any argument, there were hardly time for any. "You're the boss." Asami said, "Tell everything you know about the Clone jutsu."

Hiro tried to remember Iruka's lecture, "The Clone technique is a chakra property transformation ninjutsu. It creates fake colors and projects the image in air. To use the jutsu one have to expel chakra from the whole body. That's why it's very easy to replicate one's own self, because the chakra already knows what color to take. Otherwise it wouldn't be so easy to create a fake image and project it simultaneously. The clone is nothing but a projection, so it can not affect the environment and doesn't have a shadow."

"So that's why it's so difficult to make a clone looking like somebody else," Asami said, "I tried that before, but couldn't make it work."

"So we can't clone anyone but ourselves, is that it?" Saito asked.

"That's not it." Hiro replied, "It's just difficult. Why don't we experiment? Let's try to create a clone of someone else we know. If we are able to do that, we can easily alter it enough to make it look like a new jutsu."

The sky grew darker. One after another the stars began to appear. They kept coming like tiny fireflies in the sky, and soon none were left behind. Darkness fell upon Konoha.

Silence came along. The luxury of seeking comfort is something people can afford at night. Because darkness can sing, and people listen to the song of tranquility.

Not for shinobi though. Ninjas thrive in darkness. At Konoha, some lives begin at night.

Hiro Utagawa kept working, never giving up. His gift was not of intelligence and power of memorization, it was his inhuman ability to pay attention and focus. The hand signs were Ram, Snake and Tiger. After 127 times he only needed Ram and Snake.

Saito didn't have Hiro's drive. But being trained from childhood to one day become a medical ninja gave him better chakra control than most.

Asami had none. But she didn't stop because Saito kept trying, and Saito kept trying because Hiro never slowed down.

Hiro was already under a transformation, so it took him only one try to find out it was actually very easy to clone someone else. The trick is to first transform into that person, and then use the clone jutsu. However, that didn't actually satisfy any special purpose.

Hiro had transformed white hair and dark eyes. Like Jiraiya he was wearing a deep red shirt. Asami had orange hair and blue eyes. Saito was shortest of them all.

Before leaving for dinner, Hiro figured out how to create a clone wearing deep green shirt. Asami could turn his clone's hair blue. Saito's clones were taller than him. Both Hiro and Saito had at least one shinobi parent who would understand their situation better, so they agreed to gather at Asami's home.

And soon after reaching home, she told her parents, "My friends are coming."

"Our team has to complete a very important task, we will need the whole night." Saito said to his father.

"Mama, papa, I will stay at my friend's house." Hiro said.

Before today, none of them knew each other very well. Hiro always preferred to stay silent and listen to everything. Saito had his own group of friends. Asami would never agree to associate with any boy other than Sasuke. But an almost impossible mission brought these three together. Bonds are created in strange ways. And even if they fail, at least they could leave with two new friends.

In the end, friendship matters most.

They practiced at Asami's home for more than three hours, but didn't make much progress. The Clone jutsu takes very little chakra to perform, that amount is replenished quickly. Still, it wasn't possible for three newly graduated kids to continuously use ninjutsu without getting tired.  
"I never thought the Clone was that complex." Saito said, "The best we can do is a very simple color change or scale change."

"And don't forget, none of us can create more than seven." Asami added, "We have to figure out something fast. I am getting sleepy too."

"That means we can create a total of nineteen clones. We have learnt to change color of a singular object and rescale the clone a little." Hiro said, "What can be do with these?"

Illusionary clones were never very useful. They were taught at the academy only to familiarize children with the concept of property transformation and chakra expulsion. The first one is needed for Transformation, the second for Replacement.

Higher level shinobis usually learn an elemental clone technique. In fact, it's one of the jutsus suggested to learn after mastering nature transformation, because most elemental clones are very easy to create.

Then there are few harder ones. Hiro has seen Konomi use something called the Shadow Clone technique. She didn't tell him much, just that it was a very advanced technique and considered jonin level. And guess what, it was actually created by the second hokage.

Hiro wished Tobirama Senju were here with them. The second hokage was a genius at jutsu creation. He has created jutsus ranking from E to S, but very few of them were mentioned in the history book. Supposedly Tobirama was a very secretive person. Among the ones mentioned were the Heavenly-weeping jutsu, three body projectile and …..

And Hiro knew what they had to do.

"Pay attention to everything I say." He called the other two, "Because we have to do it together."

* * *

The sun rose eventually.

"You three look exhausted." Hideki smirked seeing them at the park, under the maple tree, "Tell me, what you did yesterday? Didn't you guys sleep?"

"Not much." Hiro admitted, "We had to work for 10 hours."

Suddenly, Hideki's smile dropped. He took on a very serious look, "Wait. You guys worked for 10 hours? You three aren't lying, are you?"

"No." Asami said. On a different day she would have lashed out at Hideki for even suggesting something like that, but today she was too tired to argue, "At first Hiro told us we can't create a jutsu from scratch in one day and the best way is to modify something we know. So he suggested the clone jutsu and we tried to create a Clone that doesn't look like us. We practiced and practiced, but we couldn't go very far. We even worked at midnight. Then Hiro got an amazing idea, and at last we created that jutsu you wanted."

Hideki Sarutobi stood rooted at the spot, eyes on stalks, "You three have created a jutsu?"

"For sure." Said Saito, "It's not much, but still. A jutsu is a jutsu, right sensei?"

"Can you show me?"

The three went a few steps back. Hideki was waiting in silent anticipation. Together, all three started to make hand signs.

Ram. Snake. Tiger.

Members of group four cried out in in unison, " _Team Four Ninja Art: Dark Body Formation_."

One after another clones started to appear. But they didn't look like humans. They were completely black, as if shadow materialized. These clones were as tall as 10 feet. They grouped together in circle, crowding over a single spot. And after a while, three young shinobi couldn't be seen anymore. They were hidden among 21 giant sized clones.

Hideki was dumbstruck. These three, three no name genins, have in a way recreated Tobirama Senju's Bringer of Darkness technique!

Of course it wasn't that much powerful. The area this technique hides is very small in size, seven illusionary clones are difficult to maintain during movement. A good enough shinobi may even break through this technique using ninjutsu. Still, the dark body formation might turn out to be more useful than they imagined.

They dropped the jutsu after a while, and Asami asked, "So sensei, do we pass?"

Hideki stayed silent for a few seconds, and then made the decision that might change his life for good, "Yes, you three pass. Congratulations."

The kids started to cheer and jump in joy. Innocence is very rare among shinobis, even for children. But these are the moments to cherish, this wild dance and childish yelling. This is gold.

A true smile appeared on Hideki's face. And in that moment, he decided to be the teacher these kids deserve.

"Guys, stop. There is something I have to tell you." He said, "The true purpose of this test."

Three new genins stopped their celebration and looked at their sensei. All of them looked eager. Hideki continued, "The true purpose of this test was teamwork. There are shinobis who are strong, shinobis who are weaker. There are people with powerful taijutsu and ninjutsu, people with a good brain. It doesn't matter who you are if you can't work in a team. Because teamwork is the most important thing for a shinobi. Being strong is good. But life is meaningless unless you have friends to share your happiness with. To never give up on your comrades is the teaching of the hokages. This is the will of fire!"

Saito was awed, Asami had stars in her eyes. Hiro looked content and satisfied, as if that's what he was waiting for. Hideki said, "You three did better than I expected. You worked together and created a ninjutsu cast by all three of you together. You won't find a better example of teamwork than that. From today, you are team four. We start our mission from tomorrow, so enjoy today. But before you leave, there is something else I think I should tell you."

He took a deep breath, then started to speak, "I am Hideki of the Sarutobi clan. I am mostly a ninjutsu user. I am still single, but hope to get married someday. I don't mind a good tea in some quiet evening. You can say my dream is to become a great teacher like lord third some day."

"Ah, thanks Sensei." Asami looked very confused, "But you already introduced yourself yesterday, remember?"

Hideki smiled, "Never mind, it's just something I thought should have been done. Now scatter, go have fun with your family or something."

Saito and Asami soon left, but Hiro stayed behind, "Sensei, can you get me something? I am looking for these books which I can find anywhere. But I am sure it's in Sarutobi clan library."

"Hu? What book?"

"The Theory of Chakra, written by the third hokage. And Days of Legendary Sannins, I don't know who wrote that."

"You are interested in chakra theory?" Hideki raised an eyebrow, "Wow, that's a new. And why so much interest in the sannins?"

Hiro smiled, "I told you, did you forget? I want to be just like Jiraiya sama. And to be like him I have to know about him, right?"

"I guess." Hideki shrugged, "Okay, I will see what I can do. Anything else."

"Yes." Hiro said, "Teamwork. This wasn't the only purpose of this test, was it?"

Hideki stared at Hiro's face in amazement. This boy is a lot smarter than he looks, a lot smarter, "No, it wasn't. Teamwork is very important, but friendship comes with time. I will be blunt, compared to few other teams I am not going to mention…."

"Team seven, eight and ten?"

Hideki sighed, "Yes, yes, them. Compared to them all the other teams this year are almost nothing. These three teams have clan heirs, geniuses, genin with more chakra than myself. We were told to expect every other team to fail. There is only one way you can surpass shinobis of that caliber, with strong will power and an intelligent mind. That's what I tested, whether you had enough of that."

"Okay. Thank you."

"Hiro." Hideki said, "You three are my first student. I admit, at first I expected you to fail, but you far exceeded my expectation. If you are willing to become a shinobi as amazing as Jiraiya san, I will help you with everything."

Then he looked up at the sky, "Besides, don't you think it's symbolic? Jiraiya was also taught by a Sarutobi. It's only right for you to be taught by a Sarutobi yourself."

Hiro too looked up, a serene smile on his face, "Yeah, I believe you."

After all, you introduced yourself properly, didn't you sensei?

* * *

 **Author's Note:** The name _Hideki Sarutobi_ was inspired from _Yukawa Hideki_ , the great Japanese theoretical physicist and the country's first Nobel laureate. In 1934 he first theorized the existence of _meson particles._ Mesons are subatomic particles composed of one quark and one antiquark. In 1955, he joined ten other leading scientists and intellectuals in signing the Russell–Einstein Manifesto, calling for nuclear disarmament.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, the name _Saito Takayasu_ was taken from _Takayasu Mikito,_ a famous Japanese ophthalmologist. He was known for his discovery of 'Takayasu's Arteritis'.


	4. Potential

**Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction based on the Naruto world, created by Masashi Kishimoto. Except few of my own created characters like Hiro Utagawa all of the characters belong to Kishimoto. I am not profiting financially from the creation and publication of this story.**

 **Chapter 4: Potential**

Like most members of the Sarutobi clan, Hideki was born with an above average chakra capacity and fire affinity. Like most members of Sarutobi clan, Hideki had his own dream to one day be considered among the likes of Hashirama and Hiruzen.

Like most members of the Sarutobi clan Hideki accomplished just enough to be remembered among friends and family, nothing more nothing less.

He graduated from the academy at the age of twelve, and took 4 years to become a chunin. He lost one of his teammates before the war and his father during the war. His mother did not live long enough to see him becoming a jonin, which happened after the war. Some might say he had a hard life, but Hideki knew very well that for a shinobi his hardships were mediocre at best.

Long time have passed since he had exchanged the history books for a copy of Icha-Icha Paradise.

Most of his free evenings were spent in this bar. But today he was seen furiously writing on a piece of paper instead of sitting drunk. He had to plan how to train his students to greatness.

"You should have brought more papers."

Hideki looked up and found a woman taking the sit opposite to him. She had two glasses in her hands, filled with wine. Hideki took the one offered to him.

The woman was not in any sense remarkable. She was wearing standard Konoha flat-jacket and looked like your average kunoichi. The woman was not extremely pretty or ugly enough to give a notice. Her hair was cut in just the perfect length, not too short or not too long.

Her face however, was familiar, "I've seen you somewhere before."

She nodded, "That's very possible. I am Konomi Mimura, the jonin in charge of Konoha shinobi archive."

Hideki took a small sip from the glass he was holding, "Nice meeting you Konomi-san. I would usually thank you for the drink but I don't think you are here for that, are you?"

"No"

"Why are you here then?"

She brought out a folder from the bag she was carrying, "I am here to help you, of course. Isn't that what Konoha shinobis are supposed to do, help each other?"

Hideki took the folder from her and opened it. The first page contained a title. It said:

 _The Complete Profile of Hiro Utagawa_

 _Genin of Konohagakure_

 _Created by: Konomi Mimura_

He raised an eyebrow, "Interesting."

"Is it?"

"Very. Hiro Utagawa became a genin just today. He is not particularly gifted, or connected to any major shinobi clan. Wouldn't it interest you if one of the most qualified persons in the village to create a shinobi profile hand you the complete profile of one particular genin?"

Konomi smiled for the first time, "Usually it would. But you are missing one major point."

"Which is?"

"I am his mother."

The familiarities between mother and son started to become more noticeable to Hideki. The nose was same, so was the shape of the eye. Facial structure was close enough. Question is, why was she here?

"Listen miss." Hideki put the half empty glass on the table, "If you are here to praise your son, to tell me how strong he is and how good a shinobi he is going to be, please leave. I don't have time."

Konomi smirked, "Rest assured I will tell you exactly the opposite. My Hiro can tell you every single method of properly throwing a kunai, but if he actually throws them 4 out of 10 will miss the target. He can tell you how exactly the substitution jutsu works and how it can be improved, but doesn't even have the chakra reserve to use that jutsu 10 times in one a row. No Hideki-san, I am not here to tell you how great a shinobi my Hiro will be."

Konomi paused, arranging the words in her mind. Hideki was intrigued. What was she trying to say?

"I am here to tell you that Hiro is not suited for the life of a ninja."

That shut him up for a few seconds, "This is new. I never thought I would see one of my student's mother buying me drinks just because they want to insult their kid in front of me."

"Why would I insult my son?"

"Then?"

"I was merely stating the truth."

The bar was filling up. More and more people started to arrive, civilian and shinobi alike. Hideki finished the half empty glass in one go, "Can you elaborate?"

"There is a test the students have to take in the academy, it's called real life decision making. They are given a scenario and have to answer how they would solve the problem as a shinobi. I have collected Hiro's answers from his teacher Iruka. They are in the file."

It didn't take Hideki long to find the section. Everything in the file was neatly arranged. Although, that is to be expected from the person in charge of Konoha Shinobi Archive.

Hideki started reading. _You are given a mission to steal a document from a mansion without exposing your identity. When stealing the document you faced one of the guards who saw your face. The guard has 50% chance of recognizing you as the thief. You are allowed two team members. Whom will you take?_

The question was simple enough. Hiro wrote _I will take one Yamanaka clan member and a poison specialist with me. The poison specialist can put the guard to sleep and the Yamanaka clan member can use mind jutsu to remove the memory from the guard._

"I don't see anything wrong with his answers." Hideki said finally, "There are easier methods, but his solution will work too."

"Look at the seventh question."

 _You are given an assassination mission to kill a civilian. The person is a business owner and the mission was submitted by one of his rivals. You have never done any assassination mission before. How will you deal with the situation?_

Reading the answer Hideki understood Hiro had an active imagination, and had an idealistic view of the world. _A mission to kill an innocent civilian wouldn't be issued. There must be some hidden meaning behind. I will try to find it out._

What Konomi meant was becoming clear to Hideki. He kept reading. There were more scenarios. War scenarios, defensive plans, interrogation situations. Hiro always gave a unique answer, his plans were complex and the amount of thought he put into some of them showed the kid's vast knowledge on the shinobi arts. But all his answers had one thing in common.

"There are no causalities." Hideki stated, "Every plan he thought of, he made sure no one dies. Sometimes he avoided the easier solution and went through a complex process just to avoid killing!"

"Yes." Konomi nodded, "You see Hideki-san, my boy is not like the other genins. I have never trained him in taijutsu or ninjutsu, what I taught him is something else. I taught him to focus even in the most chaotic situations, the kid never even realized I was training him. I showed him the depth of the shinobi arts and told him glorious tales of legendary warriors. And it worked somewhat. But he is also his father's son. My husband, you may have heard of him, Kunisada Utagawa."

Hideki's eyes widened, "The legendary Utagawa? The master painter?"

Kunisada Utagawa was a civilian artist famous even among the shinobi population. He was considered one of the greatest painters in the history of elemental nations. His works intensified the beauty of wherever they were placed. It was kind of shocking for Hideki to know his student was the son of such a person.

Konomi replied, "The same. Where I taught him to be a shinobi, his father taught him to be a thinker. He grew up with his father's moral code, and turned into a pacifist. And you know as well as I do, this world has little place for forgiveness and compassion."

Such is the face of the world, Hideki thought. Where forgiveness is seen as foolishness, and compassion gets confrontation in return.

"You may have not realized yet, but Hiro is obsessed with Jiraiya-sama."Konomi kept speaking, "He tries to always imitate him. See, he even changed his hair color. But I cannot break his heart and let him know that he could never be like Jiraiya. He is his own person. He will probably never get summons like toads, he will never have the astounding amount of chakra Jiraiya possess. I hate to admit it, because it would break my child's heart, but the path he has to follow to reach that place is longer than most. He has to walk five times as much as someone like Sasuke Uchiha."

He understood what she meant, "So why are you here?"

She drew her lower lip between her teeth, eyes filled with plea, "I am here to ask you something Hideki-san. Please, please protect my Hiro. He is a good boy. It might not be easy, but I want him one day to realize his dreams. Please, give him what he needs."

Hideki didn't hesitate, "I will."

Because that's what a teacher is supposed to do, show the way.

Konomi smiled and grabbed his hands, "Thank you Hideki-san. I will remember your kindness." She stood up, and so did he. It was time to leave.

"There is one thing I forgot to tell you", she suddenly said. "There is one field where Hiro has potential, maybe as much as Jiraiya. You will understand why when you see it. Consider it a suggestion."

"Really? What is it?"

Konomi smirked, "Teach my son fuinjutsu."


End file.
